Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Niente. That’s how much Shell has paid into Treasury coffers via the Government’s so-called windfall tax brought in by Mr Sunak earlier this year. Shell’s £8.2 billion in profits are its second highest quarterly earnings on record.

I cautioned our ex-Chancellor-turned-PM at the time that billions of taxpayers’ money would simply go into the pockets of oil and gas giants through these ludicrous tax breaks. Recent months have shown this was a reasonable warning.

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Despite last week becoming the latest in the oil giant procession to post bumper results, Shell said it would - shock - increase its payments to shareholders.

I’m afraid a stream of dividends to the very wealthiest - and that’s what we’re seeing here - does nothing to help poorer and middle-income households to cope with soaring energy bills.

To suggest we’re all in it together is hollow. The likes of Shell are treating families like cash machines. They’ve admitted it themselves. Households across NE Somerset are being fleeced.

Let’s start with the facts.

The oil giant Shell’s bumper profits are more than double what it made in the same period last year.

It comes on the back of rising global prices due to Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

It should be shared with struggling West of England households.

Fairness matters. Full stop. The end.

It’s been ten months since the Labour Party first called for a windfall tax on oil and gas producers’ profits to lower your energy bills. We had to ask for it over 250 times before the Government finally listened to us - u-turning on their dodgy buy now, pay later loan scheme in the process.

But what the Government came up with is still not good enough. The truth is North Sea oil and gas companies, like Shell, are still rolling in Putin’s blood money. And they’re still benefiting from the pain of their customers - that’s you and your neighbours and friends reading this column.

Labour leader Keir Starmer will continue to set the agenda to keep energy prices down and it is important he do so. The Government need to stop saying a proper windfall tax will deter investment - for the oil companies themselves say it won’t.

Taxing corporate windfalls more fairly could subsidise household bills set to hit £4,300 next year, without undermining future business investment. The resistance of the latest Prime Minister to that fact means his government is siding with big corporations against the hard-working people of our great region and country.

When Shell announced its bumper profits last week, its chief executive positively trilled as he declared: “we are delivering robust results”. Pull the other one. This is about getting rich quick on the back of soaring bills - not any genius business decisions made by the firm. This is the unacceptable face of capitalism, and for all our sakes this must change - and fast.